IBM surprised by lawsuit from APM

Charged with fraud, breach of contract

Big Blue has said that it was jolly surprised by the news that it has been sued by chemicals manufacturer Avantor Performance Materials.

APM claims that IBM conned it out of money and breached its contract during an SAP software project.

IBM told Reuters that the accusations were blown out of proportion and that it was surprised by the move.

It said that the allegations were exaggerated and misguided and IBM was astonished that Avantor chose to file suit.

Big Blue insisted that it had met its contractual obligations and delivered something that Avantor continued to use in its operations. It did not say exactly what it delivered, but the implications are that it was not just a stapler and a packet of paper clips.

Avantor produces chemicals and raw materials for pharmaceutical products, laboratory chemicals and chemicals used in the electronics industry.

It wants tens of million in damages from IBM which it claimed had misrepresented the capabilities of a software program that runs on a SAP platform.

IBM's actions had resulted in a near standstill of Avantor's business, the lawsuit claims.